hose
"objects of interest" were in some cases doubtful, to say the least,
could name only the battlefield of 1648 near Preston and one or two
minor "objects" in a distance of one hundred miles. I recalled the
comment of the Touring Secretary of the Motor Union as he rapidly drew
his pencil through this road as shown on the map: "Bad road, rough
pavement, houses for thirty miles at a stretch right on each side of
the street, crowds of children everywhere--but you cannot get away from
it very well." All of which we verified by personal experience.

At starting it seemed easy to reach Carlisle for the night, but progress
was slow and we met an unexpected delay at Warrington, twenty miles
north of Chester. A policeman courteously notified us that the main
street of the city would be closed three hours for a Sunday School
parade. We had arrived five minutes too late to get across the bridge
and out of the way. We expressed our disgust at the situation and the
officer made the conciliatory suggestion that we might be able to go on
anyway. He doubted if the city had any authority to close the main
street, one of the King's highways, on account of such a procession. We
hardly considered our rights so seriously infringed as to demand such a
remedy, and we turned into the stable-yard of a nearby hotel to wait
until the streets were clear. In the meantime we joined the crowd that
watched the parade. The main procession, of five or six thousand
children, was made up of Sunday Schools of the Protestant churches--the
Church of England and the "Non-Conformists." The Catholics, whose
relations in England with Protestants are strained to a much greater
extent than in the United States, did not join, but formed a smaller
procession in one of the side streets. The parade was brilliant with
flags and with huge banners bearing portraits of the King and Queen,
though some bore the names and emblems of the different schools. One
small fellow proudly flourished the Stars and Stripes, which was the
only foreign flag among the thousands in the procession. In this
connection I might remark that one sees the American flag over here far
oftener than he would traveling in America. We found nothing but the
kindest and most cordial feeling toward Americans everywhere; and the
very fact that we were Americans secured us special privileges in not a
few cases.

After the procession had crossed the bridge, a policeman informed us
that we could proceed.